Employment statistics need to change and fast yet there seems to be no action or concern on where things are heading. Placing new employment laws is a way of trying to enforce more employment through a racist system that clearly does not work.
The above chart shows where South Africa is heading with their unemployment statistics if there is no government change of plan or intervention. The employment policies that are currently in place are not working as small businesses have to abide by employment regulations if their total number of staff exceeds 50.
I know our small business which employs around 23 people is still way off that dreaded 50 number and would rather separate the businesses than surpass that number or not get to that number as it would have such negative repercussions if we did. We would be forced to place people into managerial positions who were not qualified for those roles and this is the so called government regulations that cripple businesses and why possibly one of the many reasons so many are unemployed.
Everyday driving through to the office I see hundreds of unemployed people standing on the street corners in an orderly fashion with the hope someone will stop and pick them up for a days work. Over the last two years the numbers have increased and instead of one or two street corners being used there are now dozens of places to find casual staff.
The R350 grant that those who are not working receive is stopping this year as the government does not have the funds to maintain this. I think the minimum wage is R4700 monthly so the grans is not even 10% and is definitely not an income someone could survive on. If that grant dries up all hell will break loose and we shall see some rioting and uprisings later this year.
The problem is the government relies too heavily on the private sector for creating employment whilst taxing them to the fullest. The government should be creating jobs that are required by employing thousands to work on maintaining the infrastructure instead of palming these jobs out to over priced tenders that are never done properly. This would drop the unemployment numbers immediately and put money back into the economy instead of into someone's back pocket. The reported 1000 families that benefit from all the Black Empowerment corruption is not a rumor and is very much alive in the cherry picked tenders.
The problem we have in South Africa is not a problem that cannot be fixed and the problem is that the ministers in charge have no clue how to fix the problem whilst still stealing the taxes. If the stealing and corruption could stop then the entire country has a chance to recover. Less taxes would be required so the businesses can be under less pressure allowing them to expand which they cannot do right now. The unemployment is a direct consequence of the corruption happening across the country in every sector and until that is addressed these numbers will never improve and only get worse.
The open border policy does not help as you have millions of foreigners seeking employment taking away jobs from the locals. I mentioned a few months back how a butchery advertised one position and had over 400 hopeful applicants turn up for interviews. The situation is dire and is so much worse than the reported official figures of 33.2% unemployment .The truth and reality is no one knows the exact percentages due to not knowing how many people are in the country and the 33.2% is a sugar coated figure the government can live with for now. If I had to guess the figures would be somewhere between 50% and 65% which is more realistic to what we are seeing in every day life. Sadly most of the people are unskilled and have no experience so they offer no unique value.